Doctors can help you manage the pain.
Treatments for nerve pain from shingles.
If you have shingles symptoms get treatment now and you may avoid permanent nerve pain.
The virus travels down nerve fibers to cause a painful skin rash.
Shingles causes a painful rash that can be accompanied by fever fatigue and sensitivity to light.
Learn about treatment options from a pain management specialist.
For some people shingles pain continues long after the blisters have cleared.
When the rash goes away the pain usually goes.
It s called postherpetic neuralgia.
While antiviral medication is an effective treatment for shingles it s not the only option.
Generally this pain follows a nerve s path on one side of the body.
Sometimes the pain of shingles continues long after the blisters and other symptoms have faded away.
Shingles a viral infection of the nerve roots affects 1 million people in the u s each year.
The risk of postherpetic neuralgia increases with age primarily affecting people older than 60.
There s no cure but treatments can ease symptoms.
Capsaicin topical patch qutenza.
While a painful itchy blistering rash is the main characteristic of shingles this nerve pain may precede its appearance.
This condition is known as postherpetic neuralgia and it occurs when damaged nerve fibers send confused and exaggerated messages of pain from your skin to your brain.
The condition affects nerve fibers and skin causing burning pain that lasts long after the rash and blisters of shingles disappear.
There s no cure for shingles but prompt treatment with prescription antiviral drugs can speed healing and reduce your risk of complications.
Shingles itself comes from reactivation of a chickenpox virus varicella zoster.
Roughly 30 to 60 of people over age 60 who get shingles go on to develop a chronic pain syndrome called post herpetic neuralgia.
The chickenpox herpes zoster virus causes shingles.